A pioneer of sorts, in 1977 Brooke-Marciniak was in the first class of women recruits at Purdue University to receive a basketball scholarship. She continues to pave way for women in the workplace today and has been named to Forbes Magazine’s listing of the world’s 100 most powerful women seven times.

For as long as she can remember, Ali Sullivan has gotten her kicks playing soccer. Now she’s distinguishing herself in a different field as an industrial engineering senior manager at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Timmy Newsome became the quintessential Dallas Cowboys after graduating from Winston-Salem State University. But few realized he worked as a computer programmer in the off-season that ultimately led to him starting his own company, Newtec, after retiring from the NFL.

As a former baseball student-athlete at Oregon State University, Rob Summers was living the dream with a national championship behind him and a possible major league career in front of him. But it all changed in an instant when a tragic accident left him with a different dream: merely to walk again. Now the former baseball player is changing the face of paralysis and offering hope for millions who suffer debilitating spinal injuries.

Scared out of her wits, Violet Palmer made history Halloween night in 1997 when she became the first woman to officiate a regular-season NBA game. The former Division II basketball player has since gone on to referee more than a thousand games at the highest level of basketball, including the NBA playoffs.

When Jason Hardebeck entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1983, he wanted to be an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet pilot before moving on to become an astronaut. His dreams to soar were inspired by the newly released Hollywood blockbuster movie Top Gun. But much as Tom Cruise’s character Maverick’s journey didn’t turn out as planned, neither did Hardebeck’s.

When Gen. Raymond Odierno joined the football team at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1972, he hadn’t given much thought to a career in the Army. He didn’t come from a military family. He just wanted to play college football.

Growing up in Merrillville, Indiana, twins Ronda and Rachel Price were good students and solid outside hitters on the volleyball team, though they weren’t sure their athletic careers would extend past high school. Neither of them received much college scouting attention.

Mark Harmon, the Burbank-born star who calls Los Angeles his home, excelled at sports long before he ever got in front of the cameras. He was the quarterback of the UCLA Bruins’ football team during the 1972-73 seasons and graduated in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in communications. Today he is widely recognized for his achievement in the entertainment industry.